Music Biz Headlines, July 19, 2017

Many people know the protest songs of the 1960s and '70s, born of the civil rights movement and the social and political upheaval sparked by the Vietnam War. Today, hip-hop has taken the lead in protesting police brutality and the injustices suffered by the poor — but a new generation of folk artists is also creating music that might not always sound like the protest songs of yore — C.J. Janovy, NPR

As clashes between government security forces and protestors critical of the current administration continue in Venezuela, a group of musicians has decided to make their thoughts known by making a version of Prohibido Olvidar, the 1991 song about repressive politics by singer Ruben Blades — Kevin Lui, Time

The leader of Thuringia in eastern Germany says people's right to assembly should be redefined to combat right-wing extremist music events. This comes after some 6,000 neo-Nazis attended a concert in the town of Themar DW

Her brother was set to get married, but her parents needed cash for the celebration so they colluded to sell her off. She raised a ruckus, and wrote a song called “Brides For Sale” — Tessa Stuart, Rolling Stone

Clashes erupted ahead of the concert Saturday evening, with protesters accusing the hip-hop singer from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) of supporting the government of the central African country — RT

A group of Palestinians from the UK, besieged Gaza, occupied West Bank and Israel have co-authored a letter to the British rock band, Radiohead, over their controversial decision to hold a concert in Israel later this week — Memo

We all know how the line goes: teens and young millennials are believed to be largely politically apathetic. Too busy on our phones or buying avocados and whatever else to engage with national and local elections. But: fuck that — Chris Bethell, Noisey

The plaintiffs, including a founding member of the group Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, call the streaming giant's recent $43M settlement with publishers and songwriters an "empty gesture" — Eriq Gardner, The Hollywood Reporter

Spotify has hired François Pachet who created the first known pop songs composed with AI, as well as launching the first music label dedicated to the professional use of AI for music production — Music Business International

Like Xi, Winnie has a rotund face and nose, and netizens have been taking split-screen pics of the two making similar poses, including one of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shaking hands with Xi looking downtrodden. Abe’s sad eyes and hairstyle even look like Eeyore, too — Shannon Laio, The Verge

The first inconvenient truth is that, despite having firms with innovative ideas, Canada has a weak innovation ecosystem, leading our companies to do less well than our competitors, even taking into account our smaller economy. This is not for lack of trying. Canada has roughly the same number of researchers per capita as the United States and spends more on public research and development (R&D) as a percentage of its GDP than does the United States. But these efforts have not paid off regarding the export of knowledge-based products and services — Centre for International Governance Innovation

The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has called for comments from industry and the public on goals it should promote as it renegotiates NAFTA, which opens a window for the TPP’s proponents to try to use NAFTA to establish at some of the dangerous proposals they hoped to impose through the TPP – including the TPP’s so-called intellectual property (IP) rule — Electronic Frontier Foundation

Muru Music has trained machines to address classification, and this A.I. lies behind its remarkable ability to generate fluid, listenable playlists on top of music streaming services. Muru’s technology has translated a seasoned DJ’s brain into algorithms and rule sets — Rockpaper Scissors

Today, more Canadian musicians and their export teams see that while the U.S. market is still “the golden ring, they also know that if they can get traction elsewhere, such as in Scandinavia, Europe or Australia, “then let’s get over there” — Peter Simpson, Export Wise

YouTube and Facebook get a bulk of the attention from digital publishers looking to build and scale video businesses. Meanwhile, for the past year, Amazon has created a platform that not only offers publishers another place to distribute videos but also the opportunity to make money from day one — Sahil Patel, DigiDay

Music streaming has helped major labels post record-breaking revenue. In its Q1, WMG posted over $1 billion. During the same period, Sony Music reported $1.2 billion. UMG alone earns $4.5 million a day from streaming. But despite the rise of streaming in the music industry, the richest artists still make the majority of their cash from touring — Daniel Adrian Sanchez, Digital Music News

Mr. Chuckles, who left a lasting impression on the Juno organizers at this year’s annual, has dropped US$6.45M for a swanky 12K square-foot LA pile with eight bedrooms, five car garage and an overhead of other trimmings. It’s one of five bedsits the funny man now owns — Variety

Lefsetz is nothing if not opinionated. And he isn’t afraid to upset anybody, including some of the biggest acts, with what he writes. Criticisms leveled in his newsletter have sparked some high-profile public feuds, including with Gene Simmons, Kid Rock and most famously, Taylor Swift — Ethan Varian, Los Angeles Times

On a website with more than 100 million active daily users, there are plenty of ways to game the system, be it for attention, or, if the streams pile up enough, profit. And the frauds cashing in on the latest hot single are hardly alone. A bevy of unknown artists have found ways to juice their streaming totals, whether it’s covering songs from artists who don’t allow their songs on Spotify, or uploading an album of silent tracks, each precisely long enough to generate a fraction of a cent for the artist — Adam K. Raymond, Vulture